Guardian
by Holly442
Summary: Louise strives to find the one thing in her life that she's good at. The Springtime Familiar Summoning was her final chance to prove herself as a mage, and she was met with only failure. Trapped in a strange world, with an even stranger partner, Louise will try to find her way. She will become a Guardian.
1. Chapter 1

_**ONE**_

Louise had often wondered throughout her life why things would always go so horribly wrong. She put her best foot forward, always trying her hardest in whatever she could, so even if it would end in dismal failure she could at least say that she did her best. Knitting had been one of these endeavors, and so had painting. Louise had come to discover that she couldn't knit worth a damn, and she didn't have an artistic bone in her body. She had dropped those hobbies years ago, and hadn't picked them up since.

But magic wasn't something she could just put down and walk away from. To Louise, magic meant everything. Ever since she could read letters on a page Louise had delved into the arcane with a certain unbreakable tenacity. The majority of her sixteen years living had been spent as sleepless nights poring over thick grimoires and tomes, soaking in every bit of information she could.

A brilliant effort, one could say. It could also be said that it was a shame it hadn't worked. No amount of reading could change the fact that Louise's biggest failure in life was her magic.

She had been sent away from home at fifteen to enroll in Tristain's prestigious Academy of Magic. Louise had hoped with all her little heart that something there could help her, that maybe somebody, student or teacher, would know what she was doing wrong.

Instead, the only things Louise found at the Academy were hate and loathing. The teachers looked down on her with distain, wondering why she had bothered coming, and her fellow classmates weren't shy about voicing how she didn't belong among them, and that she wasn't deserving of her Nobility.

Summoning her familiar had been Louise's final chance to prove to everybody once and for all that she was a mage worthy of the blood running in her veins. Her familiar was going to something grand, a lifelong partner who would help her through the trials of life, and become her best friend. The calls of her classmates had been answered; great and fantastic creatures summoned forth through the conduits of magic.

When it came time for Louise to summon her familiar she had approached the summoning circle with great trepidation. Her classmate's taunts and jeers had echoed throughout the courtyard, and remained in her ears while she chanted. Then everything was black. When she opened her eyes again, she felt so cold.

And that was where Louise found herself now; sprawled out on mountains of shattered concrete and bent rebar. She sat up in the husk of the destroyed building – dazed and confused – and took in her surroundings. The buildings all around her towered into the sky, the tallest she'd ever seen, and they looked absolutely decrepit. The sky itself was clouded over, but where most of the clouds were merely lead-colored, off in the distance, down the longest and straightest street she had ever seen, there were clouds of inky black.

It was cold too. Louise got to her feet, teeth chattering, and drew her thin mantle tight around her small frame in a vain attempt to retain some heat. As she stumbled through the rubble, out into the street, she couldn't help but notice how overgrown everything was. Moss crawled up the faces of buildings, tall grass poked through the cracked streets, and trees had sprouted in full in the oddest of places, and then promptly died to become twisted and gnarled sticks.

Louise stopped in the street, next to the rusted husk of some strange metal carriage, and looked one way, and then the other. There was absolutely nobody here. What had happened? Was this the result of her familiar summoning? But this was so wrong! The familiar was supposed to come to _her, _not her to the familiar – or rather, her to some strange city where everybody had up and left already. As angry and annoyed as she was, she couldn't shake how heartbroken she felt. She had blown her only chance to prove she was a mage. Above all that, however, Louise felt lost, alone, and scared.

So the short pink-haired girl standing in the street alone decided to choose a direction. Her maroon eyes squinting, she found the direction that looked the least unpleasant – the other end of the street had an odd fog rolling in – and began walking. Louise looked down a side street on her left, and found something troubling. The road dipped slightly that way, before it went underwater. It looked like some kind of swamp had taken up residence in the middle of the city. Louise kept walking, and the next street was the same. Staring far down the streets, it looked like the better half of the city was submerged beneath a few yards of water.

She stopped, and wondered. What had happened here? She saw more of the rusted metal carriages, gazed at the tallest buildings she'd ever laid eyes on, and stood silently in the widest avenue she had ever walked. What kind of place was this? It must have been amazing before everybody decided to abandon it.

A troubling thought came to mind. _Why_ did everybody leave?

And then, the most disturbing and inhuman howl echoed through the streets. The maze of buildings made it hard to pinpoint exactly where it had come from, but it wasn't far away. Louise fingered the waistband of her skirt, and subsequently discovered that she didn't have a wand. Her heart stopped. Perhaps she'd find out why everybody left sooner, rather than later.

A lot could be said about Louise's particular brand of magic. 'Explosive' was the word most people chose to use. No matter what spell she called up, no matter the focus or words, all her magic was able to do was create violent, smoky explosions. Louise hated it, and so did everybody else.

But she couldn't deny that an explosion in some rabid beast's face would certainly be a deterrent. Forgetting how cold she was, Louise's walk turned to a jog and she took a random street going to the right, one that was much narrower. Despite that, she realized that it was still just a hair wider than any street she remembered from Tristain's capitol city.

Louise didn't get far. She ground to a halt, noticing that the road was heavily porous and broken. Great holes gave way to underground pipes, and the strange material used to pave these streets had been pushed together in some places to form mountainous peaks. Far ahead it looked like the ground had been peeled up, and the road raised high into the air. On top, she could see the silhouette of a person standing sideways. They wore a long cape and some very oddly shaped armor, and looked like they might have been holding onto a weapon of some kind.

Could this person help her? "H-hello?" Louise called, her voice echoing down the street.

The person turned, and Louise heard that ghastly howl once again. Four glowing blue eyes settled on her, and then she saw something really disturbing.

Four arms.

Whatever this thing was, it had four arms, and it sounded like an honest-to-God demon. There were more of them too. Reacting to the creature's call more appeared over the crest in the raised road. They didn't have the four arms the first one did, but they had the same glowing blue eyes, and made the same heart-rending cries.

It was almost instantaneous, but Louise saw the bright blue projectile streak through the air and land about a dozen feet in front of her. It tore up the ground, sending debris and steam up into the air. Her eyes widened fearfully. That creature had its weapon to its shoulder now.

And so did the others.

The blue lights danced through the air all around in a sudden barrage, tearing up the ground in front of Louise and growing closer with the most horrifying whirring. One thought rang through Louise's racing mind.

_Run._

Louise worked her legs into motion, practically diving into a narrow alleyway to her left. She could hear them howling again, except this time it was more like cackling. They were laughing at her. Tears of fright streaking down her cheeks, and her breaths forced and ragged, Louise pushed ahead to the end of the alleyway and veered away.

It was just in time, it seemed. Hearing that same piercing whistle as before, the blue light streaked past again, leaving a wispy trail behind. For reasons beyond Louise these horrible things were after her, and she had no way of defending herself. Were those weapons some kinds of guns, or magic? It certainly seemed to lean towards the latter with the bright blue lights.

Louise found herself in a small open area between buildings, filled with trash and wreckage. A tall building on her right slumped and leaned precariously on another. Louise dashed beneath its shadow, fearing it would come loose and fall on her head. She had no idea where to go as she sprinted through another alleyway, and into the next street. She could still hear those creatures screeching at each other.

But Louise didn't have to think much about where to go next. She heard the whir, and then her stomach suddenly felt very cold. She involuntarily slowed, her legs shaking, and looked down. The red stain on her white blouse grew astronomically as the blood spilled out of her abdomen. She touched a hand to it, too shocked to even feel the sensation of pain, and brought up fingers dripping with crimson. Louise looked up in disbelief and saw that four-armed creature again. Somehow it had gotten past her, and now it stood across the street, weapon still raised. Louise finally realized what had truly happened. She'd been shot.

She stumbled to the side, fell against one of those rusted out carriages, and slumped down to her bottom. She felt something rising up and coughed out a mouthful of blood. The burning pain suddenly hit her in force, taking over her entire body. There was no more running now; all she could do was let out a pitiful cry.

Louise stared up, shaking uncontrollably and bleeding heavily, and watched as the creature stood over her. The four eyes burned with hatred, and its helmet almost seemed to form what looked like horns. Right now, this thing looked like the devil. Louise cried harder when she thought about what it was going to do to her now.

But it did nothing, and simply turned away, leaving Louise to die on her own. She remained there, shaking and crying as her blood spilled around her. Was this it? All she had worked for her entire life amounted to this? Dying here in some ruin?

It wasn't possible, was it? She couldn't just die now; there was so much she had left to do. What about proving herself? What about finding love? Getting married? Having children?

Louise closed her eyes, finding the deceptively warm embrace of sleep impossible to resist, and died.

…

_"Something's still blocking our signal. I can't contact the Tower. It has to be the Fallen."_

Evangelina cursed her rotten luck. What her Ghost had relayed meant plenty of bad things. She couldn't recall the ship to come retrieve them. She couldn't contact the Tower for help. She couldn't even summon a sparrow. Glancing over, she saw Cadus crouched nearby. The daunting maze of Old Chicago stretched out from their hiding place on the rooftop of a department store.

"Still nothing," Evangelina informed him, fingering the grip of the hand cannon clasped at her side.

"I know," Cadus replied glumly. He finally lifted his gaze from the scope of his rifle, and gave Evangelina a look. "We need to keep moving. Out of the city is our best bet."

Evangelina agreed, but getting out of the city without the speed of a sparrow and while being hunted by the Fallen at every turn was going to be an agonizingly slow process.

_"Hold on, I just picked up something,"_ Evangelina's Ghost piped up. _"Another Ghost in the area."_

"Another Guardian?" Evangelina asked, brow raised.

_"No. It's alone."_

That was strange. Evangelina wondered why a Ghost would be wandering around on its own, until a shared glance with Cadus made it click. "Shit. It's going to awaken a Guardian?"

_"Maybe,"_ her Ghost replied. _"If it does, the Fallen will tear them to pieces."_

Evangelina stood, unclasping the hand cannon from her lightly armored thigh. "Give me a direction." She saw the marker light up on her visor. Without skipping a beat she leapt from the roof with Cadus, their cloaks fluttering out behind.

…

"Guardian? Guardian!"

Louise stirred, unable to ignore the feminine voice that penetrated her eardrums. She felt so heavy, and so tired. Couldn't she just sleep in for five more minutes?

"Eyes up Guardian!" The voice persisted. "We have to move!"

Groaning, Louise stirred. How had she fallen asleep sitting up was beyond her. Her eyes fluttered open, and she took in her surroundings; the ghastly city street, the strange rusted carriages all around, and the horrible howls that echoed through the streets. She remembered what had happened.

Louise remembered dying.

Her hands went to her stomach, searching for a gaping wound, but found nothing. There wasn't even a hole in her blouse. Had it just been a dream?

"You're awake!"

Louise started from fright, letting out an unintentional yelp. She looked around desperately, trying to find the source. A small… _something_ floated into her vision. Its spiky little body seemed to be hard as steel, but it twisted with a certain organic quality. The blue eye widened curiously.

It spoke in a woman's voice, tinny and high. "I can't believe it worked! You're alive!"

Louise tried to back away, but she realized the shell of one of those carriages was in the way. She also realized something else; this little thing was speaking to her in Albionese. It was a strange dialect for sure, but she could understand it easily enough. Her throat felt so dry when she tried to speak. "Who… what are you?" Louise croaked, putting on her best Albionese. Her Tristanian accent was thick, but if the little metal ball noticed it didn't make a show of it.

"I'm a Ghost," it announced. "Actually, now I'm your Ghost. You've been dead a little while, and –"

"N-no!" Louise cried, searching for strength to put in her legs. "Th-that was just a dream!" She insisted. "That couldn't have been real!" She didn't want to believe it. She wanted to believe that it must have been some dream, or hallucination, but the pain had felt so real. She remembered the coldness in those four eyes, and the deceivingly sweet embrace of death. Such a cold infinite blackness.

The back end of the Ghost spun in place, as if it were confused. "I just brought you back to life. You've been dead for over a year now."

An entire year… it had felt like seconds. "But… no, my… my family… I –" Louise felt something well up in her, and a choked sob forced its way out. "Oh God…" She buried her face in her hands. "It was real…"

The Ghost stared on, unsure of what to do. Most people were rather elated to find out they'd been brought back to life. The howls of the Fallen drifted through the air once again. The Ghost gave a quick glance around, and then shot forward to tap the backs of Louise's hands. The girl glanced up, surprised, and teary eyed. "I know what you went through must have been traumatic, and –" More howls, closer this time. "You can talk to me about it if you need to, but this is Fallen territory. We aren't safe here."

Louise stared, flabbergasted. "But… what are you? W-where am I? How did I even get here in the first place?"

"Just hold still." The Ghost floated towards Louise's face, and completely disappeared in a flash of blue light. Louise glanced around frantically, feeling alone again, but her fears were quickly abated. _"Don't worry I'm still with you,"_ the Ghost told her. Its voice felt much closer now, like it was right inside of her head. _"I know you must be really confused. I'll answer all of your questions later, when it's safe. For now, we need to move, fast."_

"But…"

_"You just have to trust me. I brought you back to life, didn't I? That's cause enough to trust me."_ The Ghost paused, sounding unsure and hurried. _"Right?"_

Louise struggled to her feet, her legs wobbling. "Just tell me… was it real?"

_"Your death?"_

Louise nodded, and then upon realizing that the gesture might not have been seen, she spoke. "Yes."

_"I don't know exactly how you died,"_ the Ghost pointed out. _"But I can assure you that it did happen. Do you remember it?"_

"I… I do."

_"I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, but that's probably how it happened."_

Louise still couldn't quite bring herself to believe it. Bringing somebody back to life like this wasn't possible, unless dark and foul magics were used. This didn't feel like necromancy. Then again, Louise didn't really know what that was supposed to feel like anyway. She felt in control, and that was what mattered.

_"We need to stay away from these wide streets,"_ the Ghost told her. _"On your right, there's an alleyway. Go there, before the Fallen spot us."_

Looking around tentatively, Louise forced herself into motion and jogged towards the alleyway. Once within the cover of the towering buildings, she slowed to a walk. "Who are the Fallen?" She asked.

_"You don't know?"_ The Ghost's voice held a touch of disbelief. _"But you've only been dead for a year… Never mind that. They're extra-terrestrials."_

"...What?"_  
><em>

_"Aliens."_

Louise was baffled. "I still don't –"

_"They're the bad guys,"_ the Ghost substituted for lack of a better term. _"They want to kill us. You're not armed, or armored, so we should avoid them. Also, you should move a little quicker."_

While not particularly wanting to, Louise returned to her light jog. Strangely, as she passed a side alley, she realized that she wasn't tiring. It felt like she could easily keep up this jog all day long.

_"There's something blocking my signal,_" the Ghost continued. _"I can't contact the City. It could be the Fallen."_

"What…" Louise veered around a section of crumbled wall. "What is that supposed to mean?"

_"It means we're on our own. We need to get out of this city, now, and then I can get us some help. Wait –"_ Louise heard several strange noises come from within her own head. The high-pitched beeps made her wince. _"I just picked up something."_

Louise bit her lip. "What _are_ you going on about?"

_"Just stop at the end of this alley,"_ the Ghost told her.

Louise did. "Why?" She asked.

_"You don't want to run blindly into the Fallen's sights, do you? Look both ways before you cross."_

She wanted to make a snappy remark to that, but Louise bit it back. This little creature in her head was trying to help her, and she supposed bringing her back from dead was the biggest help somebody could ever give. Louise peeked out, tentatively looking up and down the wide street. Just more of those weird-looking rusted carriages. Were they even carriages? "I don't see anything," she said.

_"Okay. Do you see the alley directly across? The one between that restaurant and those apartments?"_

Louise looked. She supposed the building on the right could have passed for some sort of café at one time, but she didn't really know what apartments were. It must have been the tall building on the left that looked to be missing most of its upper half. "Yes."

_"Go there."_

"Are you sure?" Louise asked nervously. "I mean… if I really… you know."

_"Died?"_ The Ghost tried.

"Yes," Louise said quietly. "If I really died then I… I really don't want to die again."

_"I wouldn't worry about that,"_ the Ghost told her, sounding rather casual. _"We're in this together now. And –"_

"_What!?_" Louise hissed hotly. "How could I possibly not worry about that? For God's sake, I don't want to die!"

_"I'll bring you back again."_

Louise deflated. "...What?"

_"I'll bring you back, again,"_ the Ghost repeated. _"As long as the Darkness isn't too strong, I can bring you back again. I'll tell you more about that later. Don't consider yourself invincible. Oh, and, um, dying still hurts. So there's that."_

Louise still found it almost impossible to will herself forward. She was scared out of her wits. That was blasphemous. Heresy! "I..." She took a breath. "I don't know what to say to that."

_"Well things are certainly easier this way."_ The Ghost paused. _"I forgot to ask, but what's your name?"_

"I'm Louise," Louise breathed. "Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliére."

The Ghost made the sound of somebody clearing their throat. _"That's a mouthful, Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliére."_

"…Just Louise would do."

_"Alright Louise. Just run to that next alley, and then I'll tell you what I've picked up."_

Louise didn't know what it meant for the Ghost to have 'picked up' something. It didn't even have arms. Forgetting that small detail, Louise took another cautious look up and down the road, and then broke into a dead sprint. She immediately surprised herself; Louise had never moved so fast in her life. She veered around a divot in the road, through the narrow space between two of the carriages, and then leaped clear over a small pile of rubble blocking the mouth of the alleyway.

She ground to a halt, looking at her own hands in amazement. "I feel different," Louise said. "I-I could never run like that before…"

_"It's because you're a Guardian now."_

"I don't even know what that means!" Louise said, growing flustered. "I'm so confused! I…" She stopped with a sigh.

_"You what?"_

"…Want to go home."

_"This is only the beginning, Louise. You're going to see a lot of things you don't understand,"_ the Ghost said comfortingly. _"Everything will make sense in time, I promise you, but for now we need to focus on the task at hand. Keep moving."_

Louise moved to a jog again, passing by a small playground in the courtyard behind buildings.

_"As I was saying earlier,"_ the Ghost continued. _"I picked up something. I can't get any transmissions in or out of this city, but there are two Guardians operating nearby."_

Louise felt a small amount of relief flow through her. "Could they help us?"

_"Yes,"_ the Ghost replied._ "They're our best bet at getting out of here, and back to the City. It seems like they're moving towards us. They must have picked us up."_

"That's good?"

_"That's _very_ good."_

Louise stopped at the end of the stretch of alley, looking out across a monstrously wide street. She was about to step away from cover, confident there was nobody watching, but a howling scream stopped her dead. The ground beneath her feet shook when a massive shape suddenly loomed from over the rooftops across the street. She immediately thought of a windship, but it obviously wasn't. There weren't any sails, it wasn't made of wood, and no windship made sounds like _that_.

Two more followed after that. Louise watched as debris fell from roofs and stripped from the walls, diving for the road. One slap of concrete crashed against the roof of one of the rusted carriages across the street, making a rather loud crunch.

Louise's heart was pounding. "W-w-w-what was that!?"

_"Fallen ships,"_ the Ghost answered. _"The fact that they're this close to the surface doesn't bode well."_

Louise swallowed. "What do we do now?"

The Ghost hesitated in its answer. Louise supposed at this point she could think of this little thing in her head as a 'she'. It sounded feminine enough. _"Those Guardians are really close now. Do you see the hospital across the street?"_

Louise was unsure about the meaning behind that particular word. Perhaps her Albionese wasn't as sharp as she thought. "The… hoss-pit-all?"

_"It's the one just on your right."_

Louise saw the massive structure. It rivaled the size of Tristania's Royal Palace. Then suddenly, a staccato of dry cracks, vying with a series of deeper blasts. "Is that…?"

_"Gunfire,"_ the Ghost answered, confirming Louise's worst fears. _"Those Guardians must have run into the Fallen."_

"That's not good… is it?"

_"That's _really_ not good,"_ the Ghost said. _"It looks like they're being pushed into the hospital from the other side."_

"What do we do, Ghost?" Louise asked shakily. "I… I need you to help me."

_"We need to get you armed."_

"Armed?" Louise hissed in disbelief. "With what?"

_"A gun, preferably."_

Louise balked. "I can't use a gun! I've never even held a gun!"

The Ghost in Louise's head sighed deeply. _"Then let's just focus on finding those Guardians."_ The gunfire dropped off, leaving silence behind. _"The gunfire's stopped. Look, get in that hospital. There's plenty of cover, and we'll meet those Guardians in there. Are you ready?"_

Despite the trepidation swirling in her stomach, Louise nodded. She thought of her mother. Her mother would have wanted her to be brave. "I am."

_"Alright, go! Now!"_

…


	2. Chapter 2

_**IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE:**__ It was brought to my attention that I made a colossal fuck-up in regards to Louise's Ghost only being able to bring her back once. In fact, Ghosts can bring back their Guardians any number of times, so long as the Darkness isn't too strong in a given area. The in-world Crucible is literally a bunch of Guardians going to the same place to kill each other over and over again. Now, I think that's pretty bat-shit insane, but if that's what it is, that's what it is. I made an appropriate edit in the last chapter to reflect this change, which pretty much affects the entire story. Read it if you want, if not, here's the short version: Louise can be brought back to life again, as long as the Darkness isn't too strong in that area. The Ghost assured Louise that she would go into more detail later. There, short version. _

_Not like it's a big deal anyway, because we were only one chapter in. I'll do my best to not make this seem as overpowered as it sounds, and to not change Louise into some mary-sue. I think it'll add a few more humorous moments to the story._

…

_**TWO**_

It hadn't taken long for Louise to come to the conclusion that this hospital was probably the last place she wanted to be right now. Dashing through the garbage-strewn hallways of this decrepit old building looking for two people who she didn't even know sounded like a bit of a gamble to her, and she was horrid at gambling.

And there were also the monsters who wanted to kill her for no reason. She'd almost forgotten about them.

The stairwell had brought Louise to the third floor, and that seemed to be as high as it was letting her go. The next few flights had broken away, which explained the amount of debris she had to crawl over to get this far in the first place. The Ghost had assured her that there had to be another stairwell somewhere in the building, so Louise was off to find it.

She was growing increasingly surprised at her own sudden agility. She could never move like this before – like a wiry cat on the hunt. Then again, she hadn't ever _tried_ to move like this before, so in all likelihood she could have always possessed such agility, but she doubted it all the same. The little creature in her head had explained to her that she 'was a Guardian now.' Louise still had no idea what that meant.

As Louise weaved around another one of those strange wheeled beds, she heard the Ghost's voice ringing out in her head. _"Wait! Stop."_

Louise slowed to a halt, wary. "What is –"

_"Shh!"_

It wasn't hard to hear what the Ghost was talking about; deep thumping from overhead, and muffled chattering. Up ahead, there was a gaping hole in the ceiling.

_"The Fallen,"_ the Ghost said warningly. _"Don't make any noise. They're right above us."_

Louise's heart felt like it had been clenched in an icy hand. What was she supposed to do? Where were those Guardians now? She didn't want her second chance at life to just slip by in some mouldy old building, but if the Ghost really could revive her again, then there shouldn't be much reason to worry.

Right?

But that went right out the window when one of the four-armed monsters dropped down through the hole in front of her. It had been facing away, but when Louise instinctively took a step back her foot had come down on broken glass. The Fallen whirled around instantly, shrieking. Louise noted that it wasn't like the one who had killed her. Sections of its armor were colored bright yellow, and while it had the same four-armed and four-eyed arrangement, it was much shorter, with no cloak, and a differently shaped helmet.

And in two of its hands it held short swords, which promptly burst to life with crackling blue energy. Louise had about enough of that already. She turned and ran for all she was worth, screaming.

She could hear it following behind, screaming too. It didn't sound like it was gaining, but who knew? Louise rounded a corner, and then another, taking every random direction she could. Suddenly, she heard a burst of muffled claps from somewhere nearby. Now, not only was there some vicious monster chasing after her, but it sounded like a hundred men were rattling off with volley fire over her head.

_"Okay, so this is bad!"_ The Ghost shouted in Louise's head. _"Remember when I said not to worry about dying again? I take it back! Do _not_ let this guy kill you!"_

"Why would I…" Louise was huffing as the rounded a corner. "…Let him do that!?"

_"I won't be able to bring you back in here!"_

Louise felt her stomach twist. "W-why!?"

_"The Fallen know what we are, Louise!"_ The Ghost told her. _"I told you not to consider yourself invincible! It's not like the Darkness is strong here, but this guy is not going to just stand there and let me resurrect you!"_

Louise veered into another hallway, and then skidded to a stop. More Fallen were waiting for her, or perhaps it was more accurate to say that they had just happened to be here when she showed up. They looked just as surprised to see her as she was to see them.

The one standing at the back was the leader. He was the tallest, wore the evil demon-helmet, and the cloak. The rest were much shorter, with only two arms. But those two arms held what were obviously pistols. Louise briefly wondered if the hierarchy among these beings involved the amount of arms. Did the lowest of the low have none, and the highest have a hundred?

She threw out that thought and decided that she had gone the wrong way, so she turned around and went back just as the biggest fallen let out a fierce cry. That other Fallen chasing her with the swords was still coming, she noticed. That wasn't good either.

_"Louise!"_ The Ghost cried in her head. _"What are you doing!? Run!"_

The intersection had been a three way, so Louise took her only other option and ran with the sword-wielding maniac on her heels once again. From the amount of footsteps she could hear there were definitely more following her now. There was a wide window at the end of this corridor. A dead end it seemed, but it looked like there was something outside.

_"A fire escape!"_ Her Ghost told her. _"Quick! Let's just get the hell out of here!"_

That seemed like a proper plan to Louise, but it was quickly interrupted. The ceiling ahead had a nice gap torn into it, and as luck would have it, another figure dropped down. Louise didn't wait to see what kind of insanity was trying to ambush her now. She took an immediate right, through a doorway, into what appeared to be a room for multiple patients.

_"That wasn't a Fallen!"_ The Ghost cried. _"It was –"_ Whatever she had been trying to say was cut off by the clattering roar of gunfire.

"What!?" Louise shouted, and turned to look at the door. Blue projectiles streaked, and the dark hallway flashed with each explosive crack of gunpowder. Somebody ducked into the room for cover. Somebody with four arms, and two swords. The Fallen set its sights on her, and let out a terrifying screech. Louise matched it with eyes wide, and was back on the run.

The back of the room connected with the next through a small doorway. Louise ducked through, and promptly slammed the door shut behind in the vain hope that it would slow the monster down. It didn't. Louise could only gape when the door was splintered with arcing and flashing of blue energy. The Fallen cried out at her again.

Louise took the only other doorway at the end of the room – and found herself in a supply closet. It was a true dead end, and she knew was done for. Her eyes landed on something that could be used as a weapon in the direst of situations. Louise grabbed it up, feeling completely stupid, and leveled the business end of the mop at the doorway. The Fallen appeared, paused when it saw what it was facing, and promptly cut the end off of the mop in a single swipe. Louise stared down at the end of the cleanly cut wood. It was burnt, and smoking.

"No…" Louise muttered when she backed up against the wall. "No… no… please… please don't…"

The crisp clap of the gunshot was more like a deafening thunderous boom in these tight quarters. The Fallen reeled, falling to the floor. It used the two blades for support, burrowing the tips into the floor, and clutched at the wound on its side with its two free hands. Almost immediately, Louise saw an arm holding what had to be the beefiest pistol she had ever laid eyes on appear in the doorway, and the muzzle was pressed against the side of the Fallen's head. The gun roared, jerking back and up as the Fallen's head exploded in a steamy mess. From the gaping hole that was the creature's neck, a white ethereal mist poured out along with a scratchy cry of release. The headless body collapsed at Louise's feet.

Louise stared, mortified, and disgusted. She felt her stomach twist and turn. Bile threatened to rise up.

The gun's owner stepped into view. The person had armor that seemed just as strange as the Fallen's, with dull yellow metal covering the chest, knees, and upper arms. The rest was a strange mishmash of black and tan with dark stripes weaving through unevenly. The helmet was yellow too, and almost insect-like in appearance. It was covered by the hood of a grey cloak, and the black visor had only a thin glowing green line.

Louise knew this was obviously a woman. The armor wasn't skin-tight, but it was rather form-fitting, and beneath her cloak Louise could see a much longer gun on her back. Louise couldn't see this woman's face, but she could tell she was being looked at with some amount of confusion. "W-who are you?" Louise sputtered.

The woman stepped forward and yanked the mop handle from Louise's shaking hands. "Get rid of that crap!" She hissed, grabbing Louise by her wrist. "Come on!"

"Wait!" Louise protested as she was unwillingly dragged from the closet and across the room. She noticed that the gunfire had come to a quick halt. "Tell me who you are!"

"I'm saving your ass," the woman falsely introduced with a touch of annoyance in her voice. "Pleased to meet you."

"What!?"

The Ghost in Louise's head spoke up. _"She's one of the Guardians! Go with her, she'll help you!"_

Louise was hauled into the corridor, where there was another cloaked figure waiting. He was crouched, with one of the strangest guns Louise had ever seen at his shoulder. Wisps of white smoke drifted from the muzzle, and further down the corridor there were a pile of corpses. Dead Fallen.

"Cadus!" The woman called. "I got her! Let's go!"

The man, Cadus apparently, glanced over his shoulder. He was completely armored much like the woman, and it was colored in much the same way, but it lacked the sharp metal pieces on the upper arms and knees. The thin line on the visor was black, matching his cloak. Louise wondered how somebody could even see out of a mask like that.

Cadus did a double-take. "_That's _the new Guardian?"

The woman replied non-committedly. "I guess?"

"Where the hell is her armor?"

"I don't know!"

Cadus stood, looked around, and cursed under his breath. "We gotta go," he said hurriedly. "I'm sure every Fallen in town knows that just happened by now."

"Yeah they're gonna be on our asses," the woman agreed. "Let's go back the way we came. Backtrack through the city."

Louise watched as Cadus simply strolled towards the nearby hole in the ceiling, and then with a strange flash of purple light that shot upward, he was gone. She gaped. Mages too? _Nobody_ could do something like that without using some kind of magic, and that person wasn't holding a wand! The woman dragged her along again. "Come on," she urged.

"At least tell me your name!" Louise protested.

"Evangelina," the woman answered brusquely. There was a distant friendliness in her voice, but it seemed that Evangelina firmly believed that this was not the time or place for it. Standing under the hole, she suddenly drew Louise in close in what seemed to be a hug. "Hold on, alright?"

Louise squirmed, her face beet red. "W-w-what are you doing!?" Her question was answered when she suddenly rocketed up through the air in Evangelina's arms. They landed on the floor above, where Cadus was waiting. Louise stumbled away from Evangelina, dazed, and took notice of the gun on Cadus' back beneath his cloak, ridiculously long and bulky. She squinted, wondering if that was really a spyglass on top.

Before anybody else could talk, Louise saw something appear at the end of the corridor, and her jaw dropped. The giant metal ball floated with a certain kind of grace, and the purple glow was almost regal. It whirled to face the group, and Louise could only assume the center of the glowing magenta ring was its eye.

Cadus raised his weapon. "Oh man," he groaned. "How many of these things are in here?"

Evangelina didn't answer; instead, she leveled her ridiculous-looking pistol and fired. The metal sphere let out a deep, scratchy groan, shuddered in the air, and began moving forward. Its groans were drowned out by Cadus, who joined Evangelina in her attack. It was now, while Louise was covering her ears, she realized that what Cadus and Evangelina were doing was flat-out impossible. How could they fire their guns like that without even reloading? As far as Louise knew, guns had one shot, and then needed to be reloaded – a painfully tedious process. That was only one of many reasons why Louise felt firearms were idiotic weapons.

But Evangelina kept firing her pistol over and over, the muzzle throwing out bright fireballs, and Cadus' gun fired almost constantly. Every shot was right after the next, with barely a delay between. The metal sphere took the bullets in stride, and Louise watched in horror as a ball of violet energy formed from its eye.

"Shit!" Evangelina exclaimed. She wasted no time in roughly grabbing Louise by her arm and hauling the girl into a nearby room. Louise briefly saw Cadus dive into a room of his own on the other side of the hall just as the ball of energy screamed down the middle of the hallway and blew a hole through the wall at the end. The floor shook, and dust fell from the ceiling.

Louise was almost too shocked to move. What in the world was that thing? She thought it had to be magical, shooting bolts of energy like that. Watching, Louise saw the side of Evangelina's pistol _open_ and swing outward. A metallic cylinder fell from its housing, trailing smoke. Evangelina replaced it with another.

"Cadus!" Evangelina called. When a few moments of no response came, she leaned out into the corridor. "Cadus where the hell are –"

Evangelina dived back into the room, grabbing Louise on the way, and used her own body to shield Louise from a sudden blast. When she was released, and Evangelina leveled her pistol at the door, Louise could see that the doorway was a whole lot larger. Then, Louise heard a metallic _thwump_, followed by a high-pitched whirring, and then an explosion. Large sections of curved metal bounced up the hallway, burnt and twisted. Evangelina seemed to be relieved at that sight, and motioned for Louise to follow.

Louise, apprehensive, shell-shocked, and ready to wet herself at a moment's notice, followed Evangelina on wobbly legs. The first thing Louise saw was the amount of wreckage in the hallway. Sections of gnarled metal were strewn about in a complete mess, and beyond that, Cadus was casually strolling up the hallway.

"Nice flank," Evangelina commented.

Cadus shrugged, and wriggled the fingers on his left hand. "It was nothing a little flux grenade couldn't solve."

"A-a… a what?" Louise sputtered, confused. She shrank a little when the two rather imposing warriors turned their sights on her.

"Yeah, uh, don't worry about that," Evangelina said, sounding impatient. She grasped Louise by the shoulder, forcing her into motion behind Cadus. "We're going."

"Going where?" Louise asked. She noticed her hands wouldn't stop shaking. "W-where are we going? I… I need to know."

"Anywhere but here is my first choice," Cadus drawled from in front. Louise saw now that his black cloak actually had two diagonal white stripes.

Evangelina snorted, and Louise craned her head to get a look at the masked woman. "Yeah I hear that's real nice this time of year."

"Probably nicer than this friggin' place every time of year."

Louise didn't really know what to say to these people. They weren't exactly refined, that was for sure – this was probably how commoners spoke to each other when there were no Nobles around. It was kind of crass. However, if the Ghost was to be believed, then this crass pair was going out of their way to help her. There was something noteworthy in that.

The next hallway was much like the last, although there was no giant floating sphere-of-death. Instead, there were just the corpses of Fallen. Louise's stomach had failed to settle after seeing that one Fallen have his head blown completely off, so when she saw an arm lying alone on the floor nearby she immediately averted her eyes and settled them on Cadus' back instead.

She followed Cadus through another corridor, where she was led to a stairwell. Louise surmised that it was probably the same stairwell she had been using earlier. Things would have gone smoother if she had been able to ascend all the way up to here.

Things would have certainly gone smoother if she could just teleport around like these two. Louise could still feel the spinning in her head. It had almost been like an impossibly fast dash through the air, rather than travelling between two places without actually travelling between them. Louise desperately wanted to ask more about it, since she hadn't ever seen magic that looked like that before, but for some reason her jaw felt like it was wired shut. She felt so strangely hyper-aware of everything around her. Every little noise or creak in the building had her heart jumping.

On the next floor Louise was guided by the Guardians to a rather large hole in the side of the building. Cadus nonchalantly strolled right for it, but as they neared, Louise hesitated. Why in the world were they going for a hole in the side of the building? Evangelina, apparently looking elsewhere, walked straight into her. The woman jabbed Louise in the back, forcing the pink-haired girl forward. "Keep moving," Evangelina grunted.

"But –" Louise pointed. "I-it's just a hole!"

"Well at least you're observant," Evangelina remarked dryly. "So you've got _one_ thing going for you."

Louise's face twisted darkly. "What exactly are you implying?"

Evangelina might have just clicked her tongue, but Louise could barely hear it through her mask. She found herself grabbed roughly by her upper arm and pulled towards the hole, where Cadus was casually waiting. He glanced over his shoulder. "I'll go down first," he pointed down, and Louise saw the rooftop that was several floors lower. It was across a narrow street, and while the street was narrow, it was still far too wide for somebody to jump across, and the height would certainly be lethal.

The response from Evangelina was limited to a single nod. Louise watched, almost to the point of being horrified, as Cadus simply jumped out of the side of this towering monolith of a building into open air. He didn't even have a wand, so how was he going to levitate over to that roof? How did these people perform magic without wands in the first place? Louise saw Cadus fall, nowhere even close to landing on the roof. Louise reached to grab at Evangelina, to scream out, but Cadus somehow found purchase in _mid-air_. He bounced, as if he had simply landed and jumped again. He soared, but it still wasn't close enough. Then, with that purple flashing of light, he appeared on the rooftop without incident.

Louise gaped, and realized as Evangelina stepped up next to her, they were about to do the exact same thing.

She did _not_ want to do that exact same thing. There was no way in hell that was happening.

"Alright," Evangelina said easily, stepping close to the edge. "Our turn."

Louise gave her a straight look. "No."

Evangelina wasn't up for any argument. "Yup," she simply replied, before roughly grabbing Louise around her waist and lifting.

"Wha-" Louise squirmed, kicking and hitting uselessly. It was now when it became evident that Evangelina was much bigger and stronger than she was. "Let go of me! What do you think you're –" Louise couldn't get out anything more. Her words turned to a piercing scream as she fell in Evangelina's arms.

To Louise, it felt like her stomach had dropped right into her shoes when Evangelina performed her own inexplicable bounce in the air. They closed in on the roof, Louise screaming all the while, and rather than simply warp over to the roof, Evangelina bounced again. They landed solidly on the rooftop, and when Evangelina released the ruffled pink-haired Noble, she collapsed to her hands and knees.

"That's great," Cadus droned from nearby. "Just scream your head off. Hey, better yet, why don't we leave the Fallen a trail of bread crumbs to follow too?"

Louise, heart thudding like a drum, looked up and glared. "Shut. Up," she growled.

"Give her a break Cadus, will you?" Evangelina sighed, offering Louise a hand. "This one's greener than grass."

"Yeah she's looking pretty green now," Cadus pointed out, snorting.

Louise felt that he probably wasn't too far off. She wondered if the breakfast she had that morning was still in her stomach. Well, the breakfast she had a year ago before she died. She doubted it. Either way, she certainly felt close to vomiting. "Never again," Louise breathed, steadying herself. "I am _never_ doing that again. Ever."

"Well actually, we have to do that like, twelve more times," Cadus said, gesturing ahead. Louise could see a definite pathway that could be taken, all of them rooftops. "Probably more."

She gaped. "No!" Louise protested.

"Well this isn't the time or place to learn how yourself," Evangelina pointed out impatiently. "And we seriously have to go before the Fallen show up again."

Cadus nodded his agreement. "They'll probably be on us again before we get out of the city."

Evangelina fingered the grip of her hand cannon, feeling at ease with the touch. The Fallen would most certainly set upon them again before the day was out.

…

Louise warily found herself at the back of the pack. Her mantle was drawn tight, but it did nothing to stave off the cold. She wanted answers for the millions of questions swirling in her head. There were so many that she could hardly remember any of them at all.

_"Don't worry,"_ her Ghost assured her. _"When we're safe, I'll answer all of your questions."_

Louise supposed that was reasonable. She didn't want to blindly walk into death… even if she could be brought back to life. That idea was so foreign that Louise still didn't entirely believe it. Suddenly, her thought process had ground to a halt. She hadn't even voiced her desire to have her questions answered. Was the Ghost reading her thoughts? Impossible.

_"Well, short answer, yes,"_ the Ghost said. _"Long answer: sort of. It's, um, hard to explain. Most of your thoughts aren't exactly in words, per say. I just sort of… feel them."_

She bit her lip. "That's amazing…" Louise whispered.

_"Personally, I think eating food must be amazing,"_ the Ghost countered. Louise could somehow picture it idly fluttering around. _"But that's just me."_ There was a brief silence. _"Keep up your pace,"_ the Ghost reminded her. _"If my satellite scans of Old Chicago are correct, and they are, we've got a little bit of a long walk ahead of us."_

Satellite scans? Old Chicago? What were those? Old Chicago could be this city, Louise supposed, but satellite scans?

_"Some of your thoughts are kind of alarming,"_ the Ghost said. _"There are things you should definitely know, and you don't. And then there are other… weird things floating around I've never heard of and don't make any sense at all. Also, when I said it was going to be a little bit of a long walk, I actually meant that it was probably going to be soul-crushing. I don't know what it's like to have feet, but I imagine foot pain isn't fun."_

Louise could definitely concede to the last thing the Ghost had said. Foot pain _wasn't_ fun.

…

"Anything yet?"

_"The signal is weak,"_ Evangelina's Ghost replied. _"There's no way I can bring you back up to the ship. Maybe I could get your sparrows if it clears up a little."_

Evangelina scoffed. "You can't bring us up, but you might be able to summon sparrows?"

She felt her Ghost's disgruntlement in her head. _"I'm trying my best here."_

"Yeah, yeah," Evangelina brushed him off. It was commonplace for her to trade jabs with her Ghost, just like she traded jabs with everybody else, but it seemed like the Ghost wasn't in the mood today. Evangelina couldn't blame him. For the Ghost to not be able to send any transmissions out, or to receive any, was essentially being blinded.

Evangelina looked over her shoulder, eyeing over the little girl they'd picked up. She hadn't heard hide or hair of this girl's Ghost yet. If they ended up picking up the wrong person she was definitely going to kick herself later on. Evangelina had a hard time believing that this person was supposed to be a Guardian. Ghosts tended to pick somebody that was at least halfway qualified to do the job, and this girl wasn't even close.

What _was_ she anyway? If Evangelina were going to guess by what the girl was wearing, she'd say Hunter. That thing she was wearing was close enough to a cloak – it simply lacked a hood. What did that make it? A cape? Who walked around wearing a cape and a skirt in the ruins of Old Chicago anyway? Regular people still wandered the planet as scavengers, she knew, but those groups were few and far between. They would soon be a thing of the past. A normal person would have to be insane to venture beyond the City's walls these days. Evangelina thought this whole thing just reeked of strange.

The girl walked, her cape drawn tight. It was obvious she was freezing her rear off. Every so often, Evangelina could hear the girl softly muttering to herself, or rather, to the Ghost that had no doubt taken up residence inside her head. At least they were down on solid ground now, walking the city's streets. Evangelina preferred to be up high on the roofs darting about, much like any Hunter, but the heights were definitely taking a toll on their little charge. It was easily seen in her pale features.

"Kiddo," Evangelina called back to the girl. "What's your name anyway?"

The girl didn't seem to be happy to be called 'kiddo'. "Louise," she answered snappily.

"Alright kiddo," Evangelina went on, ignoring the name. She spun around to the side to walk backwards, and spread her arms. "Just –"

There was a piercing snap, and a trail of blue light passed straight through where Evangelina had just been, and then right between Louise's knees. It left a smoking hole in her cape. Louise seemed to be frozen in place, petrified with a look of terror written on her face. Evangelina wasted no time. She grabbed the girl in a hug and blinked straight over to where Cadus had; in the cover of an alleyway. Whoever had been sighting them in must have been less than enthused to see their targets disappear in a set of violet flashes.

Cadus seemed to immediately notice something alarming. He pointed to Louise. "Okay, you're on fire!"

"What!?" Louise squawked. The smoking hole in her cape had caught, and now a small flame licked upward. "Put it out! Put it out!"

Evangelina grabbed Louise's brooch from behind and lifted the cape straight up over her head. After throwing it on the ground, Evangelina stomped it out the flames. Louise looked mortified. "My… my mantle! It's ruined!"

Holding the article of clothing up, Evangelina looked it over. She shrugged. "Hey, it's still good."

"No it isn't!" Louise protested. "It's soiled! It's filthy! It's got a hole in it!"

Evangelina scoffed and threw it in a ball at Louise. "Get over it, princess." Louise looked like she was about to bark out something, but Evangelina turned away and spoke to Cadus. "Through the alley?"

Cadus nodded, and moved ahead with his auto rifle in a patrol stance. "Through the alley," he agreed.

Evangelina ushered Louise ahead, between her and Cadus. "Stay in the middle," She told the girl.

Louise silently did so, concentrating more on her mantle than anything else. "It's ruined," she muttered under her breath. The group traveled the length of the narrow alleyway. Apartment complexes were on one side and a department store was on the other. The walls were tall and barren, offering no escape. There was only one flat red door, and as Louise draped her mantle back over her shoulders, she thought that the rusted handle looked rather unreliable.

And then, at the mouth of the alley, figures moving past.

"Shit!" Cadus swore, instantly dropping to a crouch. Evangelina did the same, dragging Louise down to the ground along the way. They huddled near the red door, a dumpster at their backs, and rubble dropped from high up to their front.

"Nothing behind us," Evangelina advised. "Maybe they didn't –"

Anything else Evangelina was about to say was curtly cut off when blue arc bolts flew down the alleyway, whirring snapping past with sure-footed deadliness. Louise screamed aloud, and made herself as small as possible against the red door. Cadus returned fire, poking up above the pile of concrete rubble, but he was only able to get a few shots off at a time. Evangelina whirled around to the back, and fired her hand cannon. "They're behind us too!" She advised Cadus.

Cadus ducked back into cover, magazine dropping from his rifle. While he went for another, he spied the door. "Hey, kid!" He called. "Try the door!"

Louise looked up, hands over her ears. "What!?" She cried.

Cadus pointed. "The door! Open the door!"

Realizing that she was indeed the one closest to the door, and the only one not currently engaged in a fight, Louise jumped up to her feet. She felt like instant death was only inches away, and that she was completely exposed in the open, but she yanked at the handle anyway. The door didn't move. The little thumb lever was already completely depressed, and horribly loose.

"It won't –" Louise pulled again. "I-i-i-it won't open!"

Evangelina fired the last rounds out of her hand cannon's cylinder. She pulled Louise down as she reloaded. Arc bolts danced past, marring every surface. She knew there was no way out, other than shooting themselves a path through the Fallen, or this door. She opted for the door.

Replacing the cylindrical clip that self-contained all of the rounds, Evangelina snapped the cylinder closed and brought up her free hand. "Cadus!" She cried.

"What!?"

Evangelina flexed her fingers. Louise watched in fascinated horror as a violent ball of blue energy sparked to life and grew to the size of an apple. "Grenade!"

Cadus looked, and easily understood what was about to happen. Evangelina slapped the ball of energy against the door's handle, where it remained, and grasped Louise in a tight hug. She shielded the young girl's body from the blast with her own.

Louise hadn't known exactly what to expect, but she knew an explosion of sorts was imminent, and she expected it to be deafening. Strangely, it wasn't. While it was certainly loud, the sound had a strange, soft quality to it. When Evangelina's hug was loosened, Louise could see that the door had turned concave, and rather scorched. Both she and Evangelina stared as it came loose, and fell to the ground with a loud _clang_. The black hole the door left wasn't quite so welcoming.

As she was dragged from the alleyway into the pitch dark of the building, Louise had no idea what to expect next. She was already covered in filth, had an embarrassing stink going because of the sweat, which made little sense to her. How could she sweat so much when it was this cold? Aside from that, how had Evangelina made that ball of energy in her hand, _without_ a wand? Wandless magic? There was just no way.

Somehow, as she heard the piercing cries of the Fallen, Louise knew that this was only going to get worse before it got better.

_If_ it got better.

…

**A/N**: Some things to say. Eva's armor is full Dustwalker, which, if you aren't familiar with Hunter armor, is a legendary armor set, while Cadus' is Mangala Skin 1.3. Louise's will likely be a combination of Rustburner. I won't really implement the defence stats in the story. It's purely cosmetic. I don't really know if a Guardian is 'given' their class when resurrected, or they choose one. Perhaps many of them know from previous lives, who knows? Louise seems to be a special case, and I'm sure they're many others like her (well actually, since I'm the one writing the story, of course there are). Either way, Louise's class was chosen for her.

This chapter was probably going to be twice as long. Some of you might prefer longer chapter lengths, but I opted to cut it in half to get content out faster. While I'd like to devote 100% of my time to writing, but that simply isn't possible. I have a full-time job that obviously has to come first. Next chapter, Louise will get some more explanation into exactly where she is, and what the situation is. She'll also get her first visit to the Tower, and the City.

I also have no idea where on the planet the Last City is located. In-game it looks like it's over the friggin' north pole, but I don't think it's really feasible to build a city in that particular area. Besides, that's just the game menu. I've seen theories saying that it could be South America, to the Philippines, or Greece.

Unless I didn't look hard enough. I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants on that one, so I'll just go with a European location, because it'll make the length of travel from Old Chicago more realistic considering how fast those ships are.

Also, Old Chicago is a canon location. It was teased at, and there was concept art released, but it obviously wasn't included in the final game, and I doubt DLC will give us one. So yeah, there's that. There are plenty of other regions/locations that are canon, but weren't included in the final game.

Also, as most of you said, since Louise was dead for an entire year before her Ghost found her, the Void has moved on elsewhere. I don't think the length of time is what matters anyway. I'm sure it would have moved on if she was only dead for like, two minutes, but that's not important. As to whom it moved on to, that's not really pertinent to the story YET. I don't think it would be Josette, since at this point Joseph would still be kicking, and I don't think it would move onto another Valliére, like Cattleya or Éléonore, since they already have their own affinities.

Or maybe it could? I don't know. If somebody actually read past the spoilers ahead tag then could you enlighten me? Can the Void just move onto Josette anyway? How would it affect somebody who already has an affinity? Can it move on to somebody who wasn't a mage before? Or does it have to be a newborn human?


End file.
